


Victims of the Night

by JadeJem



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Colony, Dorks in Love, F/M, Falling In Love, First Love, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Love Story, Love at First Sight, Miraculous Ladybug - Freeform, Miraculous Ladybug AU, OTP Feels, Plot, Slow Burn, True Love, Vampire AU, Vampire!Adrien, Vampire!Chloé - Freeform, Vampire!Nino - Freeform, Vampires, royal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 11:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16174079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeJem/pseuds/JadeJem
Summary: “Hey, Adrien?" Marinette asked one day during their joint free period as they walked along the campus grounds.“Hmm?” he hummed, hands stuffed in his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch her.“Do you believe in the supernatural?”Adrien choked.





	Victims of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, loves! Wrote this for the Vampire Issue that the AU Team is doing on Miraculous Amino! I really like the plot I've sort of devised on the side, so I'm probably going to end up writing some massive series about this AU (AKA look for it).
> 
> Enjoy. ;)

Adrien relinquishes a sigh, a fond smile curving his lips as he watches her trip over her own feet and nearly spill the load of textbooks in her hands. The tan girl beside her catches one of her shoulders, steadying the other as she laughs.

In response, the girl with the jet-black hair sticks her tongue out with a smile curling her pretty lips, her even prettier eyes glowing with amusement and slight embarrassment.

Adrien's heart turns over in his chest (dead as it may be—although that might be questionable at this point), and he traces the lines and dips of her face and body with his sharp eyes.

"Adrien, Adrien, Adrien," a voice from his left tuts, a smirk clear in his tone. "It's only the first day, and you've already found someone who _isn't_ of your kind to be enamored of?"

Adrien jumps, surprised that his super senses were unable to catch Nino's approach. He grunts and shakes his head, inclining it in his friend's direction. "Shut up, Nino."

Nino chuckles, placing an arm on Adrien's shoulder and watching the two girls continue on their way across the courtyard. "She's also not a vampire princess from another vampire kingdom. Think your father might have a problem with your infatuation."

"I'm not infatuated," Adrien mutters grumpily, his heart doing another little flip at the mention of the girl whose name he doesn't know.

"Mhm," Nino hums, mussing Adrien's hair before punching his shoulder. "C'mon, we'll be late to class."

Adrien follows reluctantly, glancing down at the piece of paper in his hand. "It says I'm in B Hall for first."

"C for me," Nino replies from a couple feet ahead of Adrien. "What lunch do you have?"

Adrien looks down at his schedule again, frowning. "I have no clue. This whole schedule system is different from the one in Salem."

"You do know that we live in Paris now, right?"

"Shut it."

Nino chuckles, turning around to face Adrien and walking backwards through the empty school foyer. "See you."

Adrien sends him a two-fingered salute, and they head in opposite directions. The halls are lined with lockers and posters about diversity and clubs, all of which Adrien is used to seeing in American schools. Learning French was no difficult task, as his mother was French...

Chatter from the classrooms shatters his pleasant silence, and Adrien sighs before stopping in front of B8 and pushing the door open.

The teacher stops talking, and the entire class turns to stare at him.

All Adrien can bring himself to notice is the pair of gorgeous bluebell eyes watching him curiously. His heart seizes up, and he stops mid-step, mouth suddenly very dry.

"Monsieur Agreste, I presume?"

Adrien blinks harshly, tearing his gaze from the girl before looking directly at his teacher and smiling charmingly. "Yes, that's me. Terribly sorry for being late."

She stares at him for a moment, looking more surprised than anything before she numbly points at the empty seat beside the girl with the jet-black hair. "Your seat is there."

Adrien nods his thanks, his practiced smile still intact as he makes his way over to the girl, the rest of the class still watching him stupidly.

The girl is now looking down at her notebook, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. Adrien's breath catches, and he hurriedly looks away from her, taking his seat and rummaging around his bag for a notebook.

Before he can stop himself, he pulls his notebook out, leans over his desk towards the girl, and whispers, "Did I miss anything?"

She jumps violently, her knees banging harshly into the underside of her desk. The teacher stops writing on the chalkboard and looks back, the rest of the class following suit.

"Is something the matter, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?"

_Dupain-Cheng. Half French and half Chinese. Should have guessed._

The girl flushes a beautiful scarlet and directs her gaze downward. "N-no, Madame."

The professor nods before going back to her chalkboard.

Dupain-Cheng purses her lips and sinks into her seat, cheeks still dark. Adrien is struck with guilt and immediately reaches a sheepish hand out to her, trying for an apologetic smile. "Sorry if I frightened you. My name is Adrien."

She stares at his hand for a second before blinking and taking it. "Marinette... Why is your hand so cold?"

Adrien hurriedly pulls away, a weird rush of unfamiliar warmth flooding his cheeks. His eyes widen, and he reaches up and touches one of his cheeks as if a physically warm substance might have coated them because that surely isn’t  _blood_ running through his veins.

"Adrien? Are you okay?"

Adrien's attention is pulled elsewhere very suddenly, and he looks at the girl, Marinette, who appears concerned above all else.

"Hu—yeah! Yeah, fine. I'm great. So great—fantastic. Mhm."

Adrien swallows his inner horror at whatever just came out of his mouth and smiles—or grimaces. He doesn't really know.

Marinette's lips twitch, and she laughs quietly to herself, shaking her head. "Okay."

A lull lodges itself into their exchange as Marinette faces her attention forward once more, jotting notes down in her open composition book. Adrien wracks his brain (his very educated brain, thank you very much) for something— _anything_ —to say, but comes up blank.

Eventually, he gives up and tries to tune into whatever the teacher is saying, still stealing glances at Marinette every now and again.

Part of himself knows that he shouldn't even bother—it's not like he's allowed to like her like that—, but it's as if he doesn't have control over his own body and brain. The magnetic pull of her just keeps drawing his gaze.

Adrien shakes his head. He shouldn't talk to her again if he can help it. Getting himself emotionally involved with a human? Talk about a bad idea. The weirdest part is that he hadn't been inadvertently listening to her pulse as she had talked to him, or how the blood had flowed through her veins as he had focused on her. He hadn't been able to stop looking into her eyes...

As much as Adrien despises drinking from humans, he can still hear their hearts pumping blood through their bodies—a serious handicap for someone who only feeds from animals (especially when he's hungry). The fact that he didn't hear anything when talking to her causes a strange pang in his heart. Why hadn't he heard anything? Why did he feel heat in his cheeks? Why is her surface more captivating than the blood rushing through her veins?

A loud chime overhead snaps Adrien out of his reverie. The class moves as one, all packing their bags and leaving the room. Adrien looks to his right to see Marinette still putting her writing utensils away, and a thought occurs to him.

Before he can stop himself and switch back to rational thinking, he opens his mouth and out falls, "You know the campus, right?"

Marinette stops what she's doing and looks at him, a small, confused smile on her face. "I would hope so, considering it's my third year going here."

Adrien cracks a smile.

Marinette raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms. "Is this your way of asking me to be your tour guide, Monsieur Agreste?"

_Hell yes._

Adrien smirks and shrugs nonchalantly. "Only if you'll have me."

_Stop now before it's too late, you idiot._

Marinette sighs into a laugh, slinging her bag over her shoulder and making her way towards the door, Adrien following her. Marinette stops in front of the door and faces him, expression teasing and eyes glinting in amusement. "Alright, troublemaker. I'll show you the ropes of Lycée life."

Adrien tries hard to not fist-pump and moan in despair at the same time. Instead, he grins boyishly and motions for her to pass him. "After you, My Lady."

Marinette makes a sound at the nickname and walks past him, shaking her head. Adrien doesn't miss the small smile pulling at her lips.

"Where to?" he asks, easily keeping pace with her shorter legs with his much longer strides.

Marinette purses her lips, eyes narrow in contemplation. "Well," she finally says, taking Adrien's arm ( _wow_ —that feels like a searing burn on his skin) and guiding him away from the stream of other students, "I have a free period third class. I'm not sure what lunch you have, but if you have second lunch, you should meet me in the courtyard, and I can take you around. Sound good?"

Adrien stares at her for a moment longer than he means to and hurriedly blurts, "Yeah, no, for sure. I'll let you know. Somehow."

Marinette smiles—Adrien's death sentence. "Do you... want my number so you can text me?"

_Why didn't I think of that?_

"Sure," Adrien chokes, that same odd heat from earlier rushing up his cheeks and reaching the roots of his hair. He grasps his phone with numb fingers, fumbling a couple of times before managing to unlock it and hand it over to her.

She punches in her number and makes herself a contact. Adrien leans over her shoulder and watches her type 'Marinette :)' in as her contact name before she saves it and turns to him, offering him his phone with a smile.

"Let me know," she says, saluting him with a final grin before heading down the neighboring hallway, one hand on her bag strap.

Adrien watches her go, dread and something else much warmer pooling in the pit of his stomach and settling there.

_I'm helpless, aren't I?_

*** * ***

Adrien, as it turns out, had the perfect lunch to line up with Marinette. He'd texted her as much, and their tour had commenced in the courtyard.

He shouldn't have gone. He realizes this now as he stares down at the silly contact picture he had captured of her during their time together; her sticking her tongue out and staring cross-eyed at her nose. Weirdly enough, it's quite possibly the cutest thing he's ever seen—and he's seen a lot.

They'd had an amazing time together. They'd chatted lively, goofed off, laughed, teased, and Adrien doesn't remember anything about the campus or where things are located.

And he can't bring himself to give two flying shits.

He leans back in the waiting room chair. The manor father had selected is ginormous, yet instead of letting half of the colony stay in it, he only allowed people of important operations (doctors, dietitians, etc.) to find a room and claim it as their own.

"Adrien," Doctor Kin says, surprise coloring her tone as she lets her office door close behind her, "what can I do for you?"

Adrien stands and approaches her, lowering his tone in case anyone else might be listening in from a floor down (or up, for that matter). "I need to ask you some questions."

Doctor Kin blinks before turning around and opening the door to her office, ushering him in after her. She closes it and locks it firmly, and Adrien watches as a sheen of what must be magic washes over it; a charm to keep others from listening in, he realizes faintly.

Doctor Kin picks up her wand from her desk and seats herself in her chair. "Go ahead," she ushers, lifting her wand and magicking her dark hair into a messy bun on her head.

"I don't know how long you've been around," Adrien starts, fidgeting with his phone, "but I thought that, with your extended experience as a witch doctor, you'd be able to help identify something that started happening... today."

Doctor Kin raises an inquisitive eyebrow. "Go on."

Adrien hesitates before soldiering forward. "There's this... girl."

Doctor Kin holds up her hand, amusement glinting in her dark irises. "I've heard enough."

Adrien's face screws up. "What? I haven't even—"

"I know that look," she cuts him off, rolling her eyes. "I wasn't born yesterday."

Adrien swallows his embarrassment. "I don't know what to do, Mary. I can't imprint on her. I can't. Father will rip her heart out and make me watch." His own heart squeezes painfully at the thought, yet another odd sensation he's not accustomed to. "I keep getting all these weird feelings—"

"Like what?" Doctor Kin asks, suddenly seeming much more interested as her pen hovers over a notepad.

"My heart," Adrien says softly, "it's moving. And my cheeks—they're warming. Everything inside of me is vibrating. I only met her a few days ago, Mary, and she—I can't—it feels like I've known her forever! It's ridiculous!"

Doctor Kin looks up from her ridiculous scribbling on the page in front of her. "A few days ago? Wasn't today your first day?"

Adrien's stomach swoops nervously. "Yeah, but... Well, I first saw her last week..."

_"Do it, you won't."_

_"Bet," Adrien challenges, a smirk curving his lips. "You won't be able to come back from this one, Nino."_

_Nino smiles sarcastically. "Try me, Agreste."_

_The two take off at the same time, leaving their other friends (who are jeering and/_ _or ignoring them) in the dust. The wind parts for Adrien like a curtain as his legs carry him through the thicket of forest, over stones, fallen trees, weird grooves in the ground—_

_A laugh sounds from somewhere to his right, a sound so melodious and spiking in Adrien's brain that, for whatever reason, he finds himself slowing and—_

_—smack._

_Even going as slow as he was, running into a tree at 50 miles an hour just isn't a fun experience._

_He peels himself away from the pine and rubs the side of his head, forgetting about the bet he has going with Nino, and making his way back in the direction the laugh had come from._

_Another one sounds from around 300 feet away, and Adrien starts jogging lightly, picking his way towards the feminine sound._

_"...look like you're crazy, Alya."_

_Adrien takes to the trees, leaping from pine to pine until the voices are only 10 feet away and 20 feet down. Two girls wearing shorts and swimsuit tops is the first thing Adrien notices before his attention is drawn to the fact that the forest floor drops out 5 feet away from them, sparkling water waiting 30 feet down._

_"Let them look," the tanner of the two states, striking a ridiculous pose._

_"Alya!" the first voice, the girl who had laughed, hisses, giggling and waving at some unknown source. Adrien follows her line of gaze across the gorge of water to see a group of four teenage boys looking to be around his age waving back, shouting random compliments from the ledge opposite theirs._

_The girl herself, Adrien finds, has the prettiest, blueblueblue eyes he’s ever seen, all the more radioactive in the blazing sun as she smiles with her pretty lips. A spattering of freckles is collected on the tip of her nose, almost unnoticed by even his severely trained eyes. Her hair swoops beautifully, the light glancing off the glossy mass and highlighting it in dark blues._

_Adrien’s mouth dries._

“…And after that, I kept seeing her everywhere! The marketplace, the mall, the landmarks, even wandering around the Trocadéro at two AM with a sketchbook!” Adrien harrumphs, falling back into his chair with a sigh of resignation.

Doctor Kin hums, her lips twitching. “And do you like her?”

Adrien positively  _scowls_. “What kind of a question is  _that?”_

Doctor Kin chuckles into her hand. “It’s clear that you’re physically attracted to her, but do you find her whole to be enticing? Is her personality a hook, line, and sinker?”

Adrien squirms in place, recalling Marinette’s every giggle, tease, gesture, silly expression, and mumbled admission (oh no, oh shit), and shrinks a little in his seat, the heat he’s been experiencing rushing straight up from his neck to the roots of his hair. “I-I mean,” he stammers choppily, “sh-she, ah, um, she—”

Doctor Kin’s sigh cuts him off, leaving Adrien feeling even more embarrassed than he had previously thought possible. “Of course you like her; it sounds to me like you’ll imprint on her by next week.”

Adrien jolts violently, panic crashing down on him. “No! That can’t happen, Mary! If my father finds out—!”

“I know, I know,” Doctor Kin waves him off. “We can fix this.”

“How?” Adrien asks incredulously, his emphasis sounding doubtful as he raises an eyebrow at her.

"It might be too late... mentally. Your body is reacting and wanting to imprint, but you haven't actually marked her yet. And if she's not physically connected to you, your souls aren’t linked yet. There's still time to stop it. Imprinting is rare and special to vampires, Adrien, and you have always been one to lead with your heart on all matters, haven't you?"

Adrien relinquishes a long groan. “Be honest with me: what is the likeliness of me avoiding imprinting on her?”

Doctor Kin almost seems to wince. “Erm…”

Adrien then releases every curse word in every language he knows before storming out of the office to go punch something.

*** * ***

The rest of the week went by fairly uneventfully, save for the fact that every time Adrien had gotten close to Marinette, his incisors had breached the open air with the threat to mark her.

(He’s pretty sure that she didn’t buy his excuse of dental surgery pain, but she didn’t say anything on the matter.)

Naturally, Nino had discovered human girl, Alya Césaire (Marinette’s best friend, of course), to be interesting, forcing Adrien to spend even more time around Marinette on group hangouts after school (after only a week of knowing them, mind you!).

The following week is much the same, though this time around, Adrien feels Marinette watching him more closely; almost as if looking for something.

“Hey, Adrien?" she’d asked one day during their joint free period as they walked along the campus grounds.

“Hmm?” he’d hummed, hands stuffed in pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to try and touch her.

“Do you believe in the supernatural?”

Adrien had choked.

“Wh—no!” he’d replied airily, waving his hands about wildly in an attempt to be nonchalant but in clear disagreement. “That’s crazy. Vampires and—and stuff like that don’t exist.”

Marinette had watched him speak, something curious glistening in her radioactive eyes of cerulean. She then shrugged. “Was just curious. I’m doing research on fables for a class.”

Adrien hadn’t been able to stay on the same topic for long without feeling sick, so he had changed it. Marinette had noticed.

The third week is when Adrien finds himself getting closer and closer to Marinette; texting her throughout the day and evening, FaceTiming during class and at ungodly hours of the morning, eating lunch together, hanging out after school, goofing off during class (they have 5 out of 8 classes in their schedules together. What are the odds?), and just walking to classes together.

Adrien has finally become accustomed to the constant need to gravitate closer to her, to touch her, and, best of all, he’s been able to keep his incisors in check as they constantly poke out with the intent to imprint.

‘In check’ may be a loose term.

“Adrien!” Marinette hisses through his earbud, voice low but excited. Adrien glances at his quad, where his phone rests on a junction between the desk and his leg. Her smiling face (well, the smiling lower half of her face, anyway) is all it takes for his heart to pitter pathetically. “Did I tell you yet?”

“Tell me what?” Adrien mutters into the microphone, careful to look up every now and then so the teacher doesn’t catch him.

“Your girl—” (ha! He  _wishes_ ) “—officially aced the Calculus test!”

Adrien glances down, unperturbed. “And?”

Marinette scowls at him before startling and looking up. “Er—,” she says, her attention no longer directed at Adrien. “F of x equals the cubed root of x minus three?”

By her triumphant smile, Adrien gathers that she’d been correct. She glances back down at the screen, blinking. “Sorry, what did you say?”

Adrien chuckles warmly. “Nothing, nothing. Bell’s about to ring. Are we doing lunch?”

Marinette sucks her lower lip into her mouth, and Adrien chokes on his tongue. “Yeah,” she finally says, (thankfully?) removing her lip from between her teeth, “but Nino and Alya are going in for peer tutoring, so it’ll just be us.”

“Oh,” Adrien tries very hard not to sound like he’s about to throw up his nerves, “yeah, that’s cool.”

“I’ve got to go,” Marinette abruptly whispers, looking sheepish as she glances up and back down at the camera. “I’ll meet you in the courtyard.”

“See you then,” is all Adrien has time to say before Marinette is hanging up, leaving the ‘end of call’ tone trilling in his sensitive ears.

The last five or so minutes of class fly by, and Adrien welcomes the sound of the bell with a sigh of relief. In all honesty, everything he’s doing in his classes right now is review. His education as a vampire child was much more advanced.

He reaches for his hydroflask and takes a long draw before recoiling away with a small sputter. Fury fills him at the taste of human blood swishing down his throat, and he swallows with faint disgust. “Father,” he growls, shaking his head with an angry tut. “Of course he would.” Adrien throws the hydroflask into the nearest trash can, shivering as the sip of blood swells through his system, leaving him feeling euphoric and fresh.

“Adrikins!” a familiar voice calls out, sounding genuinely happy.

Adrien turns and smiles at his childhood friend, Chloé. “Hey, Chlo. What’s up?”

She reaches up and pulls him into a hug, humming into his shirt collar. “Nothing, I just haven’t seen you in forever.”

Adrien raises an eyebrow as she pulls away. “We literally talked in the manor yesterday. And this morning before I left with Nino.”

“Yeah,” she concedes stubbornly, puffing out her cheeks, “but we don’t have any classes together, and you’re always with that girl—what’s her name?”

Adrien shifts his weight uncomfortably. “Marinette.”

Chloé waves him off. “Yeah, her. She’s the class president or something.” Chloé makes a face. “I have a class with her… I don’t even know which one.”

Adrien frowns. “Do you not like her?”

Chloé keeps a straight face for a moment before making a “pfft” sound and dissolving into giggles. “Relax, Adrihoney. No need to get all defensive.” She crosses her arms, a contemplative look on her face. “Although I’m ninety percent sure she’s only crazy about you because you’re gorgeous.”

Adrien’s eyes widen, and his stomach turns over. “Wh-what?” he queries, heat rising to his cheeks against his will.

Chloé cocks an eyebrow. “You’re joking. You didn’t know?”

Adrien swallows thickly, ears burning. “N-no! You’re messing with me. There’s no way she likes me that way.”

Chloé makes a disgusted noise, rolling her eyes. “Whatever you say, Adridarling. I’m gonna go before you combust.” And with that, she twiddles her fingers and struts away in her platforms, the gazes of boys lining the hall all following her retreating figure.

Adrien slumps against the locker behind him, suddenly feeling  _very_ short of breath.

Marinette? Like him? This  _entire time_  (okay, it’s only been three weeks, but still) he’s been crazy about her?

Adrien shakes his head.

_There’s no way she’s into me. She’s made it clear that we’re just friends. She’s just nice. And kind. And beautiful. And smart. And funny. And—_

Even with this reassurance (?) in mind, the possibility of her having feelings for him plagues him as he enters the courtyard, eyes searching for a set of familiar twintails and bright eyes.

He hears her coming from behind him, but lets her have her fun and ‘sneak up’ on him, a smile already curving his lips.

“Boo!” Marinette chimes, jabbing him in the side before coming to stand next to him with a self-satisfied grin.

“I’m terrified,” Adrien mocks, holding his hands up in surrender as Marinette comes to stand in front of him.

She rolls her eyes in true Marinette fashion before grabbing his sleeve and turning on her heel. “C’mon, let’s go to that cute little cafe.”

“Which one? You’re obsessed with many,” Adrien teases, allowing her to pull him along and down the marble steps leading into the courtyard.

“The—the one with the… the new one,” she grasps vaguely, that strange look she adorns when she has an end goal in mind shining like a beacon upon her features.

Adrien raises a skeptical brow. “This feels like a trap.”

Marinette waves him off with the hand not still tugging him along by the shirt sleeve. “Just need to get some studying in, and you’re a Physics genius.”

_She’s lying._

The thought kicks him in the face with no warning, leaving Adrien stumbling over the contents of his own mind. Where did that come from? The speculation feels like less of an assumption, and more like a known fact.

_But how on earth would he know something with such finality unless he could read her mind?_

(Just for good measure, Adrien tries.

It doesn’t work.)

“Do you ever actually eat lunch?” Marinette queries as they sit down at an outdoor table, panini in hand and inquisitive expression on her face.

Adrien opens his mouth before closing it. “I… yes, just later.”

Marinette makes a face. “You’re lying,” she blurts, almost as if the words are unwelcome as she spouts them. She slaps a hand over her mouth, blinking. “I’m… sorry. I didn’t—well you  _are_ lying, aren’t you?”

Adrien takes a moment before he decides to respond with a slow, “Maybe…?”

“Adrien Agreste!” Marinette slams her fist on the table. “You need to eat!”

At the reminder, Adrien’s insides throb with a small shock of want.

Oh shit.

_He’d thrown away the hydro. The hydro carrying his lunch._

Marinette seems to read the panic etching itself across his features, for she takes her hot panini and tears it in half, yelping and throwing the hot bread down as she does so.

“There,” she says in a tone of finality, pushing half of the tattered panini towards him, “now you have something to eat.”

Adrien eyes the sandwich with distaste. Being a vampire, he’s never really had an appetite for human food—if anything, he’s thrown up everything he’s eaten. His body rejects the sustenance.

Marinette’s radioactive blue eyes spark in interest as he grimaces down at the panini. “Unless,” she tags on to her previous statement, “you can't eat it for some reason?”

This catches Adrien’s attention, and he stares into Marinette’s eyes, wishing his compulsion ability was stronger than it is. She stares right back, accepting his silent challenge.

Another beat passes.

“Who are you, Adrien Agreste?”

Adrien stays planted in place, expression schooled, for a moment more before standing up and grabbing her hand. He pulls her out of her seat and away from the bustling cafe, swallowing thickly. Marinette says nothing as he leads her away from society and into a secluded thicket of trees in the park adjacent the cafe. He comes to a stop and looks around cautiously before releasing a stuttering breath.

“I can’t tell you.”

Marinette scowls, her hand leaving his as she plants both of them on her hips. “Tell me what? That something’s up? I’m not stupid, Adrien. I can tell.”

Adrien winces. “I know, I know, but you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

Marinette crosses her arms. “I guess you’ll never know; your lack of faith in me does astonishing things, Agreste.”

“It’s not about lack of faith!” Adrien snaps, his body aching in desire as the pulses from people’s hearts from meters away ricochet through him.

“Then what is it about?!” Marinette shouts, anger flaring up in the form of icy blue flames in her eyes.

“I’m going to regret this,” Adrien mutters, scooping Marinette into his arms bride-style.

Marinette’s expression morphs from fury into surprise. “What are you—”

“Hold on,” Adrien cuts her off, giving her a second to tense before he takes off at a sprint.

Marinette seems to move in slow motion as he speeds his way through the city, heading towards the outskirts of Paris; towards the very first place he’d seen her. He glances down at her to find her eyes blown wide, stray tendrils of hair splaying out in a speed much more delayed than his own. He smiles wistfully.

He plants his heels into the ground and skids to a stop just at the edge of the cliff. The water glistens in the gorge below, winking at him just as it had that fateful day weeks ago.

The speed catches up with Marinette, and she sputters, spitting hair out of her mouth. Adrien slowly lets her down, and she wobbles haphazardly before falling on her butt.

“I’m gonna be sick,” she forces out, falling onto her back and making a face as she stares up at the sky. “Are you the Flash?”

Adrien snorts and stands over her, reading her upside down expression of confusion. “I wish I could say yes, buuuut no.”

“Then wh—what just—are you— _why are you the Flash?_ ”

Adrien releases a long sigh.

*** * ***

“Let me get this straight,” Marinette says an hour and thirty-six minutes later (well into their third period), holding her hands out in front of her and staring at Adrien, who’s leaning against a pine. “You’re a vampire?”

Adrien can only nod, not trusting his voice enough to speak.

“You’re a vampire. A vampire  _prince._ ”

“Yep,” Adrien croaks, popping the ‘p.’

“And your father is a douchebag king who wants you to marry a vampire princess from another…”

“Colony,” Adrien supplies, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he watches Marinette’s expression shift.

“Right,” Marinette says faintly, hands still out in front of her. “That.”

At her blank look, Adrien leans his head against the pine in resignation. “Look, I know this is crazy, and I get it if you’re too freaked out to ever want to even  _see_  me again—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Marinette cuts him off, her hands coming to plant themselves on her hips as she eyes him with a judgemental eyebrow raise. “Who said I wasn’t gonna wanna see you again?”

Adrien lifts his head off of the tree and blinks at her. “Well, I just thought—”

“Adrien!” Marinette shouts hysterically, spinning on her heel and pacing to the right before stopping and facing him again. “I just found out that you’re some royal vampire! Vampires are not supposed to exist because they're mystical beings of evil that suck people like me dry! Give me a minute to process before you decide that I want to cast you out of my life!”

Adrien’s mouth snaps shut as warmth swells in his chest. “Oh,” he says softly, his gaze glued to hers with the sort of magnetic pull that can’t seem to to be broken despite his (weak) efforts.

Marinette swallows, and Adrien tracks the motion with a dry mouth. “Other… other than running exceptionally fast, what else can you do?” she asks quietly, curiosity swirling in her glimmering eyes.

Adrien stops counting the freckles on the tip of her nose to meet her stare once more. “I—I can see really well, I guess. And hear, and smell, and… jump really high?”

Marinette suddenly breaks out into a smile that knocks the wind out of Adrien. “How high?”

Adrien returns the grin before stepping towards her and holding his arms out. “Wanna find out?”

Marinette’s shriek of delight echoes off of the cliffside as Adrien launches them across the gorge and to the other side. He laughs wholeheartedly, reveling in her joy and the heat of her body as her legs straddle his abdomen and her hair whips him in the face.

He lands easily and takes off at a run, time slowing around them. Marinette’s delayed crane of her neck to glance at him in wonder has the butterflies resting dormant within Adrien exploding with sudden and jostling movement.

And there, in her eyes, is something that makes Adrien’s toes curl and stomach swoop.

Adrien’s foot catches on something, and his feet leave the ground as he flies at least one hundred feet. In that span of time, he flips himself over so he’s facing the ground and unhooks Marinette’s legs from around him, holding fast to her upper back so she doesn’t fall away from him.

He hits the dirt and skids, keeping his back facing down as he cradles Marinette’s head to his chest.

They slow to a stop, and Adrien picks them up, breathing Marinette in while she’s still pressed to him before releasing her and brushing off his shirt.

Adrien’s pocket of speed dissipates, leaving him back in slower time. Marinette stands before him, blinking in confusion before looking at Adrien’s dirtied shirt. She points at him, then the skid marks in the dirt, then back at him. “Did you—? What just—?” Marinette purses her lips and turns to face the skid marks fully before motioning at them like a maniac. “ _Did you just fall?_ ”

Adrien’s expression flattens. “No, I was ballroom dancing. Yes, I fell!” he fumes in embarrassment, cheeks and ears burning (now a familiar sensation when it comes to Marinette) as he avoids her gaze.

He’s offended to hear Marinette burst out into raucous laughter, snorting every other breath as she cackles. He snaps his gaze to stare at her with a traitorous sort of indignant anger. “Stop laughing!” he snaps as threateningly as he can. “It’s not funny!”

Marinette snorts again, her eyes watering as she covers her mouth to snuff the noises. Her cheeks are red as she continues giggling into her hand.

Adrien huffs. “Why are you laughing?”

“I—,” Marinette gasps, falling into another fit of giggles, “I have n—no idea.”

Adrien blinks. “Did I break you?”

Marinette exhales with a final hum of hilarity, lowering her hand and shaking her head. “I think I’m still in shock. I need more time to process.”

Shaking his head fondly, Adrien sighs with a small smile. “You are something else, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette returns the gesture with one of her own knock-you-on-your-ass smiles. “So are you, Adrien Agreste.”

Deciding not to miss fourth period as well, Adrien scoops Marinette up and takes her back to school. They walk into class five minutes late, stealing knowing looks at each other as the teacher scolds them all the way to their seats.

*** * ***

_‘Telling Marinette was a good idea,’_  Adrien decides a few days later, watching her expressions change as the fireworks go off right over their heads. He hasn’t imprinted on her yet (thankfully), but he’s caught himself inching towards the junction of her shoulder a few more times than he’s comfortable with. Even now, the urge to claim her and create that special connection between them burns and aches in his incisors (which are currently retracted) and chest, leaving him feeling internally miserable but unable to be truly upset.

Imprinting is a sacred and rare thing for vampires; 1 in every 1,000 vampires end up imprinting, and that’s usually with their own kind. Imprinting on a human is practically unheard of, minus what’s in the vampiric history books, so his insanely strong attraction to Marinette is even worse off. Adrien’s just happy that his father doesn’t know.

When a vampire imprints on someone, it creates a pathway between their minds and their souls, tying them together for life. The bond is inseparable, and it’s also two-sided. Between two vampires, each imprint on each other and protect one another for the rest of their lives. Imprints can either be out of romantic love, or strong platonic feelings, but this bond can only exist with one other person.

Even if Adrien  _did_  imprint on her, would Marinette be able to cross the bridge of their connection? It’s not like she can bite him back; plus, she has to return his feelings in some way or another.

“Hey, Adrien?”

Adrien shakes himself from his thoughts, realizing that he’s been staring. “Y-yeah?”

Her light eyes reflect the bursts of color raining down on the parade below them, and her legs swing back and forth off the edge of the roof they’re seated on. Adrien can vaguely feel a vibe of curiosity and hesitation coming off of her, and cranes his head in question.

Marinette takes her lower lip between her teeth and chews on it, breaking their eye contact to watch the floats and cheering crowd pass below them. Finally, she looks at him again and asks, “Why don’t you ever talk about your mother? I-I mean, you rant about your father all the time, and I was just wondering if—if—”

“My mother?” Adrien queries faintly, watching her expression morph into something akin to horror.

“I’m sorry!” she blurts, color rushing to her cheeks as she brings her hand up to cover her mouth. “I didn’t mean to cross a line—”

“It’s fine, Mari,” Adrien chuckles, shaking his head with a soft smile. “No lines have been crossed, and I don’t mind talking about my mom.”

Marinette’s hand falls away from her mouth. “Are you sure?”

Adrien shrugs. “Yeah, she was an amazing person.”

At this, Marinette seems to relax, leaning forward and resting her elbow on her thigh before parking her chin in her hand.

Adrien puffs out a breath, suddenly a little nervous. “My mother… she was a human.”

Surprise floods into Marinette’s features, her mouth forming an ‘o’ shape, but she says nothing.

“My father was engaged to marry the princess from the Malana Colony in America,” Adrien continues, scratching the back of his neck. “My father’s father wasn’t the nicest man, so when he found out that Gabriel had committed an act of passion with a human… he wanted to have her hunted down and killed. Gabriel had taken her and had run away to France, where Emilie, my mom, was from. He hid her away to keep her safe, and it didn’t take them a long time to figure out that she was pregnant.” Adrien looks away from Marinette, his eyes drawn to the stars. “With me.”

He waits for her to respond in some way, but she stays quiet, so he soldiers on.

“After she gave birth, Gabriel stayed with her for a few years. I was eight when he tried to move us again. Apparently, his father had been hunting us down for years; that man had been alive for centuries and knew the big cities like the back of his hand, so when his men showed up in Paris, Gabriel panicked. He found out that his father had been at war with the Malana Colony for five years after they found out that Gabriel had disappeared and probably wasn’t going to come back. The scandal was covered up, and everyone made the assumption that he’d simply had a baby with another vampire in his colony, not a human woman.

“When the men finally found Gabriel and Emilie in Tibet after we’d been jumping around for a couple of years, I was 11. The took all three of us and forced us back to New York, where Gabriel’s colony was stationed. Once they identified me as a vampire and not a human, they left me in the care of one of the doctors, Doctor Kin. But my mother—” Adrien’s voice cracks, and he swallows hard against the sudden tears swelling in his eyes.

Marinette startles beside him and immediately moves to comfort him by scooting closer and leaning her head against his shoulder. The action causes Adrien’s heart to perform circus acts, and he leans his head on top of hers in return.

“Gabriel watched his father murder Emilie.”

Marinette shudders, and Adrien slips his arm around her.

“The next morning, the council of our colony found Gabriel’s father with a stake through his heart, and no proof as to who did it. Gabriel took over the colony from there, and he moved the important members of the colony such as the doctors and council onto our land in France while the rest of the colony fights in the war. There are only five other vampires my age here; I don’t know where the rest are, but there used to be hundreds.”

“Oh, Adrien,” Marinette sighs into his collarbone, causing a spike of electricity to race down Adrien’s spine. “I know it doesn’t change anything, but I’m sorry.” She pulls away and gives him an earnest look, and Adrien feels a sharp pang in his chest.

“It means a lot, so thanks,” he says softly, unable to stop his feelings for her from showing in the smile he gives her. Before he can stop himself, he adds as an afterthought, “You have her smile.”

Marinette flushes, looking both pleased and flustered at the compliment.

They stare at each other for what feels like centuries but can only be mere seconds, the gap between them getting smaller with every passing moment. Every part of Adrien aches for her in all of the best ways as her warm breath ghosts his lips.

Her scent fills his nose, and he nearly moans aloud as his incisors breach the open air, filling with the toxins of the ultimate love bite.

 _‘No!’_  he shouts internally, her lips lightly grazing his.  _‘Pull away! Move! Do something; anything!’_

“Adrien,” Marinette whimpers breathlessly, “what are you doing?”

His lips brush over the dip in her shoulder; when had he moved? “I don’t know if I can stop myself,” he admits, utterly wrecked as pain and the lack of his imprint on her wreak havoc on everything inside of him. “It hurts so bad.”

Adrien’s tongue darts out; his first taste of her, and he closes his eyes as every inch of him catches  _fire_.

Marinette makes a sound that sounds half like a gasp, and half like something much less innocent.

“You can,” she whispers softly, a bead of sweat dribbling down the contours of her neck.

_Stop. Stop now before something terrible happens._

But Adrien can no longer hold himself back now that he has her permission, and his incisors bury themselves into her skin. Marinette moans as the chemicals from his teeth flow into her, and Adrien feels something stirring like a tornado in him.

Adrien pulls away seconds later, horrified, and covers his mouth. His incisors retract, empty, and terror screams down his spine.

 _‘What have I done?’_  echoes over and over again like a mantra in his head as he watches two lines of blood spill down her shoulder. Marinette opens her eyes and looks at him, though she seems very dazed if the glaze in her gaze has anything to say about it. She smiles faintly before collapsing into his arms.

Adrien curses, fear and concern bubbling viciously in his stomach as he lifts her up and takes off at the fastest sprint he can manage. He’s met with Doctor Kin’s closed door in the manor moments later, and he raps aggressively. The door cracks open a moment later to reveal the doctor herself, and she looks from him to Marinette before letting out a string of profanities and ushering him inside.

She creates a wall of magic to block out sound as Adrien settles Marinette down on the cushioned bed on the far side of the room. Guilt pulses in his ears, sounding almost like roars of a vengeful army. He brushes his thumb over her cheek, moving her hair out of her face as he gazes down at her with watering eyes. His chest aches terribly, but this time, he knows it’s not from the need to imprint; he’s already been weak enough to give in to that.

Doctor Kin comes to stand beside him, a grimace pulling at her lips. “Tell me what happened.”

*** * ***

Marinette’s eyes fly open. Blue and pink clouds meet her gaze, and she sits up to better look around herself. The floor is seemingly made of glass, though when she taps it with the heel of her hand, it ripples as if it’s water. She wobbles to her feet and turns in every which direction, confused.

“Adrien?” she calls out, suddenly afraid. “Hello?”

Emotions that aren’t her own come at her from every side; fear, guilt, anxiety, self-loathing, anger—

Marinette stumbles into a kneel, her hands coming up to clutch her head as she screws her eyes shut.

“She’s flinching. Close your mind to her,” an unfamiliar voice says, her voice echoing off the walls of wherever she is.

“Close my mind? How?”

“Adrien?” Marinette queries hopefully, recognizing his voice almost immediately. “Adrien, where are you?”

“She’s saying my name, Mary.”

“She’s not saying anything out loud, which means she’s reaching for you mentally. Sit down and close your eyes; you can only see her in a dream-like state.”

Marinette frowns as she tries to process the new information, even more confused than before.

Moments later, Marinette hears her name, though this time, it sounds close. “Marinette?”

Adrien steps out from behind a blue cloud, his gaze tracing the colored cotton ball-like shapes in the space with a mixture of wonder and curiosity. When he finally sees her, his expression crumples in relief, and he breaks out into a run her eyes can actually track, collecting her in his arms and sweeping her off the ground. Marinette hugs him back, albeit, still puzzled.

“Adrien,” she says when he lets her go, “what’s going on? What is this place? How did you get here?”

Adrien opens his mouth before closing it, and a faint green mist surrounds him. The mist itself gives off a single word: guilt.

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Adrien starts honestly, the green mist intensifying in color and depth, “but I… I should have told you about the risk.” His cheeks suddenly tinge pink—something Marinette has found odd for a vampire who isn’t producing blood—, and the mist suddenly shifts from light green to a reddish-cotton candy.

Marinette feels her heart skip an odd beat. “What is it?” She touches the spot he had bitten her only to find smooth skin next to her tank-top strap.

She looks back up at Adrien to find him visibly swallowing. “I really should have told you,” he repeats, cheeks even redder. The mist surrounding him brightens further with color, and Marinette suddenly realizes that it’s reading his emotions.

If the light green was guilt, then the pink-red is—

The word coming off of the mist changes every other moment, ranging in basic synonyms.

_Enamored, embarrassment, infatuation, enchanted, smitten—_

Marinette immediately puts a wall up and screams internally, intense heat flushing into her cheeks as she tries hard to stay calm and not make eye contact with Adrien.

But by the look on his face, she’s guessing that he’s not the only one with the emotion mist hanging around him.

He blinks hard before hurriedly stumbling into his previous line of thought with a, “There’s this thing that vampires do when—when they… have a special connection to someone. Since imprinting is so rare because it has to be two-sided, it’s considered to be really… sacred, if that makes sense? A-anyway, there has only been one record in all of history of a vampire imprinting on a human, and—”

“Wait,” Marinette cuts him off, frowning and holding her hands out in front of herself, “is this going where I think it’s going? Is that why you—?”

“I’m sorry,” Adrien blurts, the mist swirling around him light green once more, “I never meant to—it’d actually been physically hurting  _not_ marking you, and Doctor Kin said… Well, she actually didn’t really tell me what would happen if I imprinted on you, only that you could possibly die.” He shakes his head, the mist now a mixture of intense green and violet—shame. “I don’t know how, but it seems like you’ve somehow been able to reciprocate the connection the imprint paved for us. It’s lost on me how that’s possible, but my—my, uh, the endorphins and dopamine toxins I transmitted into your system didn’t kill you like they should have if you weren’t able to bridge the connection.”

Marinette blinks very slowly. “Imprinting. Is that why we’re able to do this weird mind thing?” she queries, motioning around them in mild hilarity.

Adrien nods sheepishly, pink adding itself to the mix of colors in the mist engulfing him again. “Yeah, I think so. I’m not sure what else we can do, but we’re… we’re linked for life now. I don’t know how, but I do know that I feel you in here,” he states boldly, his hand coming up to cover the area of his chest where his heart is. “I can feel you, and Doctor Kin says that, somehow, my heart is pumping again. She has a theory about it being because I’m partially human, but also thinks it’s because of you… You’re giving me human qualities.” He takes a hesitant step towards Marinette, and all she can do is be drawn into his green stare.

“I don’t understand anything that’s happening right now,” she admits, pushing away all negative thoughts and feelings about this insane predicament, “but I do know one thing: I knew from the moment I saw you that something about you was different, Adrien. I just didn’t go as far as to think you were a vampire.” She laughs, and he responds with a soft shove to the shoulder and a smile.

“Oh,” Adrien says suddenly, drawing Marinette out of her momentary calm, “I should also probably mention that since I’m getting some of your qualities, you… might possibly get some of mine?”

_“…What?!”_

*** * ***

** Three Months Later **

Adrien isn’t the bragging type, but he’s 99.99% sure that his girlfriend is officially the greatest person to ever exist.

“Marinette!” he calls out, chasing her lithe form with as much effort as he can muster. “Slow down, Speedy Gonzales!”

Her laugh echoes off of the surrounding trees of the forest as she darts behind another thicket of closely-knitted pines. Adrien can only grin before reaching into her mind and plucking her targeted location.

“Hey!” she shouts from above him as he skids to a stop, watching her cross her arms and narrow her eyes at him. “That’s cheating!”

“That, My Lady,” he purrs, jumping up the 20-foot difference and landing on the branch adjacent to hers with a shit-eating smile, “is winning.”

She makes a disgusted noise at him before dropping to the ground easily. “I’m disqualifying you. I win.”

Adrien joins her on the ground once more, grin still intact. “And I’m guessing you want a prize?”

Marinette taps her chin, feigning consideration as she purses her lips before holding a single finger out to him. “One kiss,” she states with finality, tapping her lips with the finger.

“I thought we were rewarding you, not me,” Adrien drawls as he closes the distance between them with something akin to a smirk but too happy to really be convincing.

“I guess it’s a win-win, then,” Marinette replies before pressing her lips to his, smiling at the contact.

Gabriel still doesn’t know about the fact that Adrien’s imprinted on someone, but pretty much everyone else in the Parisian sector of the colony (and then some) are aware. Chloé and Nino had made fun of him for weeks, claiming that they saw it coming from miles away and other nonsense like that.

Like Nino’s one to talk; he’s dating Alya, the hypocrite.

Adrien and Marinette have been spending 97% of their time together, as their bond can’t allow them to be apart for long periods of time without getting utterly needy. With Marinette’s newfound supernatural abilities (she can’t see as well, smell blood, or hear hearts pumping the way he does, but she got pretty much every other thing, the lucky girl), they’ve spent much of their free time exploring what she can do and, in change, pushing to see what Adrien can manage.

Being able to taste food and actually stomach it is a pretty huge plus that Marinette had freaked out over—she’d stuffed every pastry her family’s bakery owns into his mouth the moment she had the chance to. Adrien also now feels regular rushes of heat and is no longer cold to the touch as he was before. While his heart is pumping blood to the rest of the body, it isn’t pumping enough for him to fully be human—something he’s accepted in stride.

According to Doctor Kin, he’s showing signs of moving up in the growth percentiles, meaning he’ll be able to age gradually with Marinette; their expected life span is now a matching 257 years. With his immortality and Marinette’s mortality combined, it leaves both of them capable of death, but their aging process will be much more stretched out.

In all honesty, life is pretty damn great for Adrien right now; he’s never been happier. There will obviously be hardships to face with the bridged connection between him and Marinette, but he now firmly believes that there’s nothing they can’t do together.

“ _Vinctum_ ,” Adrien murmurs when they break apart, his forehead coming to rest on hers as the setting sun gleams off of them.

“ _Aeternum_ ,” Marinette replies reverently, her thumbs brushing his jawline affectionately as her endlessly blue eyes stare into his.

_Bound forever._

**Author's Note:**

> *sobs* I didn’t want to end ittttt I loved writing this so much! I’m totally turning this into a series fyi (in case you forgot).
> 
> If you were curious, Vinctum Aeternum means Bound Forever in Latin, which is something Adrien became fluent in at a young age in this AU.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Comments are appreciated. :)
> 
> Xoxo, J.


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